Crime fiction, and more.

June 30, 2009

Don't Expect a Fourth Book from Stieg Larsson

Publishers Lunch today reported on the ongoing dispute between Stieg Larsson's heirs - father Erland, and brother Joakim - and Larsson's longtime partner Eva Gabriellson, who was shut out of receiving any royalties from the Millenium trilogy because Swedish law did not recognize common-law partnerships. There's a lot of stuff to glean, which I'll quote later, but the bottom line, for now, is that the 200 or so pages of the fourth book in the series, left unfinished by Larsson's death in 2004, won't ever see the light of day, as Joakim Larsson told PL "we have an agreement not to publish" those pages. Eva Gedin, fiction publisher at Norstedts--which bought world rights to
the first three books directly from the author--further confirmed her
understanding that the Larssons and Gabrielsson "mutually decided that
a fourth novel will not be published."

PL started looking into it "after being alerted by members of the international publishing
community that the Times article and other similar pieces were
completely disconnected from their knowledge of the situation." Specifically, Gedin said: "we have had a very good cooperation and discussions with Erland and
Joakim Larsson during the years. And from my point of view it seems
that the allegations that Stieg did not ever have any contact with this
part of the family (father and brother) seems wrong. But it is of
course just a very sad thing that this matter hasn't been solved during
the years since Stieg died."

But here's an interesting wrinkle:

In one sign of potential cooperation, Joakim says that "we have a
little project going on together," in which they hope to license a
theater company in Copenhagen to produce a play based on Larsson's
work. "Eva will take care of everything in the management of the
theater project. She will get all the money." Joakim says "she said she
wants to do it"--but at the same time, he indicates that they have no
direct contact with Gabrielsson, even though they would like to. "It's
a start to have some contact with her," he notes, adding, "For me she's
still a part of the family. I would like to have a good relationship
with her, and so would my father."

Which contradicts his sentiments in this YouTube clip, but so be the case. And for those keeping score, Knopf reports that their hardcover edition of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO sold 220,000 copies, with another 550,000 copies of two paperback editions in print. And with 12 million copies of the whole trilogy sold to date worldwide, this story is far, far from resolution.

The Larsson family are indisputable villains in this sad story, and it's irresponsible to report on the Millennium Affair without making that clear at the outset. The Larsson heirs, through their own words on tape, have long since identified themselves as despicable exploiters, and Gelen's claim that there was contact between Stieg Larsson and either his father or brother has absolutely no credibility. The Swedish government's medieval laws, which give no rights to Ms Gabrielsson despite the incontestable fact that she was the author's loyal, preferred and intimate partner and collaborator throughout the entire period of the books' creation, should be immediately repealed, so that this litany of national shame and familial cupidity may at last be redressed.

Being a Swede and being aware of the innate shortcomings of structured primogenature that has been part and parcel of the dispute within both the family (actual) and the obvious claims of the "wife". I was born and raised in the U. S. as a direct result of the primogenature laws which are midieval (read antidiluvien), but on the bright side, I ended up in the Florida Keys where snow is only a rumour.